As a builder of character, racing is up there with war and poverty, wrote Les Carlyon, who added, racing can even cause poverty. But racing also brings out an array of emotions that were on full display at Scottsville yesterday – raucous celebration, relief and the shedding of a quiet tear.
For champion trainer Sean Tarry is was a bit of both. Bull Valley’s clinical performance in the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint was celebrated with loud, fist-pumping and back slapping while star mare Carry On Alice bowed out of racing with a quiet tear after signing off her racing career in the Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint.
Sean Tarry (Nkosi Hlophe)
Relief was etched on Dennis Drier’s face after boom colt Sand And Sea gave him his sixth Gr1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion in eight years and seventh overall but Les Taylor and his friends gave it the full treatment after Paul Matchett’s outsider Brave Mary romped home in the Gr1 Allan Robertson.
A group hug and dance on the members viewing balcony almost saw them topple over the rail before they bolted to the paddock to the refrain of, “you’ve just seen the next Igugu.”
General consensus before the meeting was that the inside 5m strip of turf that had been protected at the last Scottsville meeting, would provide the best going.
As a result, all dived for the strip of supposedly superior going in the first three sprints and there were the usual hard luck stories. Not so for Anton Marcus who had sussed out the going aboard Attenborough a fortnight back, winning from the extreme outside barrier.
By the running of the Tsogo Sun, attention had switched to the outside strip and S’Manga Khumalo took full advantage of 16 draw on Bull Valley. He catapulted his mount out of the pens and was barely headed with London Call matching strides up the centre.
A furlong out, there were still plenty in contention but Bull Valley kept finding and drew off to win rather comfortably from Search Party and the veteran Barbosa. Top weight and last year’s winner Talktothestars found traffic just as he was unwinding a run and lost all momentum.
A lightly raced son of Toreador, this was Bull Valley’s fifth victory from just nine starts.
Carry On Alice bowed out of racing on a fitting note as she added a fifth Gr1 to her CV and the 11th success of her career. With celebrations under way, Tarry walked off to one side, alone with his emotions while co-owner Chris van Niekerk was also dabbing away with his handkerchief. “I’m shedding a few tears. This is a bit embarrassing.”
Carry On Alice (Nkosi Hlophe)
Regular pilot Khumalo always had Carry On Alice up with the pace and she responded as any tough campaigner would, hitting the front when it counted and fighting all the way to the line. Three-year-olds Just Sensual, winner of the Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas, and last season’s Gr1 Allan Robertson winner The Secret Is Out chased hard, the former closing late, but they were no match.
Van Niekerk confirmed that the daughter of super sire Captain Al would now be shipped to Australia for a date with a stallion still to be decided on.
“She will miss the season,” said Tarry, “but that’s OK.”
“We won’t be able to buy them,” quipped Tarry to Mike de Kock, referring to Rafeef and Mustaaqeem, both progeny of Tarry’s star mare National Colour who stands Down Under and races in the blue and white silks of Sheikh Hamdan.
The grey Bela-Bela, having her first outing since the Sun Met back in January, finished just off them and Justin Snaith will have been well pleased with her performance.
Giving start in a Gr1 sprint is usually tantamount to disaster but Sand And Sea made light of this seeming mishap turning in a superb performance under Anton Marcus. Sand And Sea is a magnificent specimen of a thoroughbred and strutted the paddock like he owned it. “You can see that he thinks he’s good,” commented Drier.
“He’s a brute of a horse,” said Marcus. “He takes time to get going but he does it so easily.”
Sire Twice Over was a superb racehorse, numbering the Gr1 Champion Stakes and the Gr1 Juddmonte International Stakes amongst his victories and this victory is a cracking start to his stud career.
Tarry’s day did not get off to the best of starts, Gr2 SA Fillies Nursery winner Green Plans having to play second fiddle to 30-1 outsider Brave Mary. Gunter Wrogemann had his mount travelling well within herself in the early exchanges but when asked the question, the daughter of Brave Tin Soldier responded as if she had jumped in at the two-furlong pole. She simply raced clear to win as she liked much to the delight of her connections. A simple tongue-tie would appear to have been the key to unlocking her potential, winning her maiden by five lengths.
Whether she is another Igugu, only time will tell but Les Taylor and his mates live in hope. Co-owner Dean Bayley missed the party but Dubai would probably have been rocking.
By Andrew Harrison
